Second attempt with airbrushing acrylics, a success.

In my attempt to begin airbrushing inside the house, I decided to switch to acrylics. My choice of acylics is limited to Testors since that is what my hobby store carries and I dont really want to have to order paint online. It is so nice to drive a mile and get the color I need at anytime. My first attempt with airbrushing Testors acrylic on my ME109 went well until I peeled off my masking tape. The ME109 was primed with Testors acrylic primer and after peeling away masking tape some of the paint peeled off the plastic. The thing I liked was how well the paint sprayed and how easy it was to clean. This time I took an old Revell P40 that had missing parts and broken parts and tried using acrylics again. This time I once again first washed the plastic and built the model. I then primed the plane with Testors fine gray primer from spray can. I then sprayed Testors acrylics with no issues once again. I did hardline masking since I really wanted to test the adhesion of the paint, I masked everything. Instead of using Tamyia masking tape, I went with straight Home Depot 3M scotch tape, straight from the roll to the model. After all the masking there was no peeling of the acylics what so ever. I then airbrushed Testors gloss acrylic clear and applied the decals with Testors setting solution. I then sprayed the model with Testors Acylic flat coat. I will now begin building my older Monogram models using Testors acylics.

I can tell you from experience that MM acrylic primer and MM acrylic paints will often lift when removing any masking tape. Just because you used Tamiya tape and no lifting occured, it's not a 100% guarantee that it won't happen again. MM acrylic primer and paints are notorious for not providing a strong bong to bare plastic. I like using solvent type primers that give the acrylic paint some bite and better bonding qualities. You did the same using Testors grey rattle can primer.

Tamiya acrylics are the exception as they stay put and will not pull up at all. If you must stay with acrylics then I suggest another acrylic primer brand. I have heard good things about Vallejo acrylic primers.